What will you be doing differently this year for Thanksgiving? Better?

One of my client said that she would prepare less food for the 4 of them around the table. “We don’t need the cocktail shrimp!! I am left with leftovers for a week and so it is hard to get back into my routine. I hate wasting food”.

What about your new plans?

On my end, this Thanksgiving is the first one I’ll experience as a vegan and I will be the only vegan at the table. My husband’s American family includes a handful of vegetarians and the rest are omnivores, several in a healthy way, who will eat turkey, sausage, fish, eggs and dairy. What do you think is the common denominator? What food can everyone eat? VEGETABLES! For this reason, I’ll be preparing a few of my favorite Thanksgiving vegan dishes: soups, hearty salads, dessert to bring to the family gathering I am invited to.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]But how to plan your meal, including your Holiday plant-based sides and dessert, if you’re on a diet, have health and fitness goals you don’t want to delay?

Observe the Yoga Body Lifestyle way! aka choose to eat the foods that nurture your nature. Choose the Holiday foods that will continue to help you progress on your journey. Prepare them in a way that balance your Yoga Body Type. You can have a whole Thanksgiving meal and continue to lose weight, heal your health issues and feel your very best. Trust me on this!

Here’s how:

Start with these Yoga Body Lifestyle general tips, inspired from my Master Class:

• Maintain your targeted calorie intake for the day, as best as possible, even if this means only having a light smoothie for breakfast and skipping lunch. Try this light and tridoshic breakfast drink on Thanksgiving day:
  • The Ayurvedic Tonic Drink, made of 14 raw organic almonds soaked overnight, 1 date soaked, 2 cups of warm water, 2 TBSP Zenberry Vanilla Chai, blend well. This is breakfast is roughly 250 calories and will last you until mid-afternoon festivities.
• Prepare your digestive system, especially your stomach, by drinking 1/2 your body weight in warm water between your wake up time and Thanksgiving dinner. Water is necessary to keep your stomach walls plush and able to secrete gastric acid and other secretion supporting digestion. Thick stomach walls are an important condition for strong stomach acid and prevent ulcers.
• Exercise before your dinner. Exercise will help you regulate your appetite, calm your nerves, make you feel happy lessening your need to overeat for comfort, keep you connected with your health goals and stimulate your digestive system. I plan on doing cardio and yoga. Yoga is a great way to stimulate and tone the digestive organs.
• Plan to drink a cup of digestive tea with your Thanksgiving dinner (ginger, or fennel seeds/cumin seeds/coriander seeds tea)
• Take digestive enzymes with your meal to help you digest more smoothly. Choose a broad spectrum formula that would include enzymes to break down fat, protein, carbs and dairy.
• Take turmeric pills after your meals to help you digest and limit indigestion (bloating, gas, acid reflux). Turmeric is highly antiinflammatory as you well know.
• Use spices to support the digestion (cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc.). Spices aid in digestion and have healing properties.  So do not hesitate to sprinkle these on your Thanksgiving dishes that call for them: carrots, butternt squash, pumpkin, go well with them.
• Favor the foods that balance your Ayurvedic dosha and eat a lot more of these. If you are serious about your goals, then eat only the foods with the balancing attributes for your body type.
  • The Pitta/Summer yoga body type is balanced by eating more bitter, astringent and naturally sweet foods because these foods are cooling to this body prone to inflammation. The Pitta body type is also oily and so taking care not to overdo the fat and staying absolutely clear from fried foods is a must.
  • The Vata/Winter yoga body type is balanced by eating salty, sour and sweet foods which are warming and soothing to this body type’s cold and rough tendencies.
  • The Kapha/Spring body type is balanced by eating bitter, astringent and pungent foods which are drying for this body type’s tendency to retain water and store fat very easily. This body type should avoid the sweet taste, dessert, and salt, above all.

• Turkey is suitable for all 3 yoga body types. Pfew! Vatas/Winter body types should opt for the dark meat; Kaphas/Spring body types should enjoy in moderation and stick to white meat; and Pittas/Summer body types can just enjoy whichever piece of turkey.

In the Yoga Body Lifestyle Master Class which will reopen on January 7th you will learn what vegetables, grains, animal protein, oils and fat, fruit, spices are good for each type. It really helps to make adjustments to the Holiday dishes, by substituting ingredients. I will share with you below a few Thanksgiving recipes that support each dosha (and some multiple doshas) and explain why they do. By support, I mean that eating this recipe, your body issues will pacify. If you’re overweight, you’ll lose weight. If you suffer from inflammation, inflammation will lessen. If you suffer from water retention, this dish will have a diuretic effect, etc.

The idea is to eat liberally the foods that make you feel amazing, including the holidays.

KALE, ROASTED SWEET POTATO, POMEGRANATE SALAD
This recipe is Pitta people heaven because of the bitter kale, sweetness of the sweet potato and astringent taste of pomegranate. Avocado is also a cooling fat, good in moderation for Pittas. Avoid the cayenne pepper. This is also a good salad for the Kapha people, especially if adding cayenne pepper, eating more kale than sweet potatoes, skipping the avocado (sesame seeds and almonds will your healthy fat) and possibly skipping the salty soy sauce. It is also a good salad for Vata people because the kale is water sauteed beforehand to make it more digestible (you can also choose less bitter greens that you like), and you avoid the cayenne pepper but add cinnamon to support digestion.

Prep Notes:

You can bake the sweet potatoes ahead of time to speed preparation process during a busy night.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 medium organic sweet potatoes
• 1 organic dinosaur kale (Russian kale)
• 1 pomegranate, seeded
• 2 TBSP. sesame seeds or slivered almonds
• 1 small avocado, chopped in small cubes
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 TBSP tamarin (gluten-free soy sauce) or Shoyu (naturally brewed soy-sauce)
• a dash of cayenne pepper or cinnamon (based on your dosha)
  

Directions:

Peel and bake the sweet potatoes for 60 min at 350 degrees F. When the sweet potatoes are ready, chop them in small 1 inch cubes and reserve in a serving dish. De-stem the kale, wash it and grossly break up the leaves with your hands. Pour a little water at the bottom of a wok, bring it to a boil and using tongues, bathe the kale leaves until they turn plump and bright green (about 2 minutes). Remove the kale leaves from the water (pour the water in a glass and sip the nutrient filled water like a tea) and add to the kale to the potatoes in the serving dish. Whisk the soy sauce, cayenne pepper (kaphas) and the lemon juice together and pour over the kale. Sprinkle the sesame seeds or the slivered almonds, the avocado cubes and the pomegranate seeds on top and serve lukewarm or cold.

This is a fantastic winter dish. The bitterness of the kale is balanced by the sweetness of the sweet potato. I also like the combination of a leafy green, which grows towards the sun, with a root vegetable which grows underground. Energetically this dish is both energizing and grounding. Bon Appetit!

VEGAN PUMPKIN CHIA PUDDING
How about a Holiday dessert that can also be a meal replacement? Huh WHAT? This pumpkin pudding will be our Thanksgiving dessert on Thursday because I have health and fitness goals that I do not want to derail. It tastes amazing. Pumpkin is cooling in nature and astringent, making it one of those fall foods that cool and tone the gut.

You can use canned pumpkin as it is easy, but so is baking small, sweet pumpkins and the difference in taste is hard to ignore. The smaller the pumpkin the sweeter they are. The recipe is made with the canned pumpkin puree. I would say this recipe is good for all doshas. I will make it using Zenberry Vanilla Chai protein which contains all the spices in this recipe and will add more protein (great for meal replacement) but made the recipe without it for you below.

Serves 2 (or 1 for an entrée)

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp chia seeds
• ½ cup toasted coconut milk (or other plant milk you like)
• ½ cup pumpkin puree
• ½ tsp vanilla (unnecessary if using Zenberry Vanilla Chai)
• 1 medjool date pitted
•  1 tsp maple syrup or molasses (unnecessary if using Zenberry Vanilla Chai which contains lucuma, mesquite and green leaf stevia)
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom)
• Dash of freshly grated nutmeg
• Vegan coconut whip cream

Directions:

In a small bowl, soak the chia seeds in the toasted coconut milk for 5 min, whipping with a fork a few times to evenly distribute.

Put the pumpkin, vanilla, date, sweetener, and spice mix into a blender. Top with the chia mixture and blend on high speed for 2 min, creating a smooth, whipped texture. The chia seeds, and dates should disappear into the puree. Divide into 2 dessert goblets or eat it all from a big bowl as a main meal. A dash of freshly grated nutmeg on top and a little coconut whip cream makes this pudding very special.

VEGAN GF PECAN PIE
This is a good pie for the Vatas/Winter because of its lubricating fats and grounding sweetness. It may be a too oily for Pittas and Kaphas and too sweet for Kaphas so these body types should eat very little. Kaphas should substitute raw honey for maple syrup as it is a warming sweeteners (the only one that ok in moderation for Kaphas). It’s never been my favorite pie but a fellow nutritionist, graduate from my school Heather Neufeld created this recipe.

6 servings

Ingredients:

Filling Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut water
• 1/2 cup raw pecans (plus additional pecans to use as a garnish)
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup unsweetened,
• tart dried cherries
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup

Crust Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup raw almonds
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 3 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Make the crust by grinding the almonds in a food processor until fine (like sand).

Add the oat flour, maple syrup, coconut oil, and salt.

Blend until a dough forms.

Add the oats and pulse until they are finely chopped and the dough is sticky. (It’s okay if you can still see the oats and there’s some texture.)

Lightly grease a 9″ baking pan with coconut oil. Put the dough in the pan and press the mixture firmly into the pan starting with the middle then moving outward along the side of the pie dish. Press the crumbs into the dish to form a crust.

Poke fork holes in the bottom of the crust, then bake uncovered for 10-13 minutes until lightly golden.

Set aside and cool for 15 minutes while you make the filling.

In a high-speed blender, combine all of the filling ingredients and blend until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the pie crust.

Garnish with 1/2 cup raw pecans, whole or chopped.

Freeze or refrigerate the pie in order to set the filling. At least 45 minutes in a freezer.

GINGER CARROT (OR BUTTERNUT SQUASH) SOUP
Kaphas/Spring body types should make the carrot soup as butternut squash is too sweet for them. Butternut squash and carrots are both good for the Pittas/Summer and Vatas/Winter body types. The other point of focus is which oil you choose to use, it depends on your dosha. Lastly, if your Pitta is aggravated (you’re burning, super inflamed), skip the onion and the ginger which are too warming for Pittas, instead use cinnamon and fresh coriander leaves, more cooling.

2 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots, chopped (or 1 1/2 cup butternut squash)
• 1 Tbsp sunflower oil (for Kaphas), olive oil (for Vatas), coconut oil (for Pittas)
• ¼ cup yellow onion, chopped
• ¼ cup fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1 ½ cups organic vegetable stock (or just water)
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Add the olive oil, onion, and ginger to a saucepan over medium heat.  Sauté 5 minutes until the onions are translucent.  Add the carrots and soup stock; simmer and cover 30 minutes.  Blend with immersion blender (or pour into blender) and blend until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!

Warm regards,

Emma